BOXING:PRESIDENT MARY McAleese yesterday led the tributes to boxer Bernard Dunne after he was crowned the new WBA Super-Bantamweight world champion.
She said Dunne (29), from Clondalkin in Dublin, showed courage, skill and determination in winning “like a true champion”.
His victory, she added, was a wonderful occasion for him and his family and one in which all of us can share.
Minister for Sport Martin Cullen also sent his congratulations to the boxer on his world title victory against Ricardo Cordoba (24) from Panama in the early hours of yesterday morning.
“I would like to congratulate Bernard Dunne who, after a remarkable challenge, successfully captured the WBA World Super Bantamweight title. It was a sensational performance by the young Dubliner. With determination, power and stamina he boxed his way to a memorable victory,” he said. “Bernard Dunne’s personal success in Dublin in front of thousands of supporters was the culmination of a wonderful day in Irish sport.”
The win for the Dublin fighter topped an historic day for Irish sport, coming just hours after the rugby squad clinched its first Grand Slam victory in 61 years.
Dunne defeated Cordoba with an eleventh-round knockout at the 02 arena in Dublin. Cordoba was carried away on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance and was taken to Beaumont hospital. A spokeswoman l said last evening he had been discharged during the day.
Dunne was also congratulated by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who said it was wonderful for Ireland to win back the Super Bantamweight world Champion title after 24 years, when it was last held by Barry McGuigan. “Every credit is due to him, his family and the team which helped him to prepare for this incredible fight.”
Dunne said yesterday he was “over the moon” and the magnitude of his victory hadn’t yet hit him. He told Marian Finucane on RTÉ Radio 1 he couldn’t wait to see the fight on TV. “It was a great fight to be involved in ... it was a long fight, it was a hard fight, it was one of those fights that takes a lot of you,” he said.
He said he went to visit Cordoba in hospital after the fight and found him “in good spirits” but exhausted and dehydrated. He said he was now going to enjoy the win, “chill out” and spend a bit of time with his wife and two young children before seeing where to go from here. “I’ve achieved my goal now. I really have,” he said.
There is likely to be a civic reception for him later this week but the details have not yet been finalised.